Bitcoin slips under $74,000 as MSCI confirms Strategy index removal

Bitcoin slipped back below $74,000 after MSCI confirmed that Strategy will be removed from its indexes at the end of November, according to Cointelegraph. Fresh on-chain data added to the pressure, with Decrypt reporting a sharp drop in stablecoin supply and loss-making selling by recent buyers.

Bitcoin

Bitcoin traded at $73,774 in the CoinGecko snapshot taken at 02:14 UTC on November 12. That is up 0.56% over 24 hours but below the $74,188 level in our previous update. Over seven days, Bitcoin is down 8.55%.

The 24-hour range was narrow, from $73,366 to $74,695. Trading volume came to $26.3 billion. CoinDesk reported earlier that Bitcoin continued to test its 200-day moving average while AI and chip stocks rebounded. You can follow the price on the BTC/USD chart.

Ether and the other majors

Ether held just above $2,050, but its weekly loss of 15.34% is nearly double Bitcoin's. XRP has fallen the most of the majors this week. Dogecoin and Cardano were the only large coins in the red over 24 hours.

See the ETH/USD chart for Ether's recent path.

Market breadth and sentiment

CoinGecko puts total crypto market capitalisation at $2.476 trillion, down 2.44% over 24 hours. That figure is weaker than the small gains in most of the largest coins. Bitcoin dominance stands at 59.8% and Ether dominance at 10.1%.

The Crypto Fear & Greed Index from Alternative.me fell to 28 from 29, staying in "Fear". It briefly rose to 32 on November 10. A week ago, on November 5, it read 50, or "Neutral". It dipped to an "Extreme Fear" 25 on November 7.

What moved the market

MSCI confirms Strategy deletion

Cointelegraph reports that Strategy, Metaplanet and Upexi are on MSCI's final list for deletion. The changes take effect after the November 30 close. All three companies are known for holding Bitcoin on their balance sheets.

Stablecoin supply and loss-taking

Decrypt reports that stablecoin supply fell $14.2 billion in 30 days, the fastest contraction since June 2022, amid weak ETF demand. In a separate report, Decrypt says short-term holders sent $3.6 billion in Bitcoin to exchanges below their purchase prices, with Binance seeing sharp inflows from recently moved coins.

Industry news

• Deutsche Bank's custody service now holds Bitcoin, Ether and three stablecoins for institutional and corporate clients in Europe, according to Decrypt.
• Nomura is exploring a sale of its crypto unit Laser Digital, Cointelegraph reports, citing Bloomberg. The move follows a fourth straight quarterly loss for Nomura's European operations.
• The Suiet wallet will shut down, Cointelegraph reports. It adds that Sui's DeFi total value locked has fallen more than 22% over the past month.
• Bitcoin Core has patched three bugs, including one that could have halted a miner's ability to build new blocks, according to Decrypt. None involved coin theft.

On the macro side, our sister site FXCash covers how fears of a 50 bp Fed hike lifted the dollar and hit bonds.

What to watch next

1. November 14: Suiet keeps its API services running until this date, per Cointelegraph.
2. November 23: OKXICE is set to start tokenized stock trading with more than 70 assets, including Strategy's common and preferred shares, CoinDesk reports.
3. November 30: MSCI's deletions of Strategy, Metaplanet and Upexi take effect after the close, according to Cointelegraph.
4. Uncalled US House races: Cointelegraph reports the remaining contests could send more pro-crypto lawmakers to Congress.